sv: re: aluminum. is this english?

updated tue 18 apr 00

Alisa and Claus Clausen on mon 17 apr 00

------------------
Just for the sideline record.
For the first time in my life I was told that I speak =22American=22, not =
English.
I have never heard that before I moved over here to Scandinavia. =
Scandinavians
insist that I speak American. They insist that English speak English,
Australians
speak Australian, etc. I felt a bit =22put out=22 (I learned that =
expression when
I worked for an English company..) by that, because I never heard an
American say =22my native tongue is American=22. I would feel silly or odd =
saying
that. This is of course how Danes differentiate between the English =
speaking
countrymen.
In school here, they teach English, with the U.K. spelling and =
pronunciation.

Funny enough, although the schools are less tolerant of American than =
English,
so many boldly American words have crept into the Danish language.
I do not have maybe that national pride so deep that I want to say that I =
speak
American as opposed to English. As far as I am concerned, the language we
all speak from =22English=22 speaking countries is just that, English. =
Localities
have
their differences of spelling, accents, word syntax, etc. But if you open =
you
ear,
you will understand. When I worked for a British company, the Purser said =
he
would
come and =22knock me up=22 at seven o'clock. I thought, how shocking, how =
rude,
how could say that to me, and how does he know he can do that at precisely =
seven
o'clock?
(North American translation..make a baby. English translation...wake up =
call).

Part of language and understanding those who do not
speak exactly the way you do, is to learn how they speak and begin to =
understand
what they mean.

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
At 10:32 PM 4/14/00, you wrote:
=3E----------------------------Original message----------------------------
=3E------------------
=3EMy apology to any of you who are not natural born speakers of English. =
You
=3Edeserve better examples from those of us who are.
=3E
=3EThe mass of post relating to possible harmful effects of ingesting =
Aluminium
=3EMetal or compounds derived from Aluminium Metal cause me to ask, what is
=3EAluminum?

Dear Ivor,

I would like to thank you for your piece of invective on the sloppy
spelling habits of some of us. I plead guilty to spelling Aluminium
Aluminum. I was taught to do it that way, because that's how we North
Americans pronounce and spell this element. Australians and Brits may have
to grit their teeth and bear it, because American usage seems to be taking
over more and more. We Canadians have a bad case of split personality. We
still favour (favor?) the ou's, re's and other constructions that Noah
Webster abhored, but some of our number are giving up the good fight and
following American practice. The case of Aluminum is more
straightforward. It is just about universal in North America.